Butter-cutter clamp.



Patented May 19, 19M

F. CHADIMA.

BUTTER CUTTER CLAMP.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2a, 1913.

7%esses: .151 Mani a? [a www/ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK CHADIMA, 0F CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, ASSIGNORTO J. CHERRY 00., O]? CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA.

BUTTER-CUTTER CLAMP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 19, 1914.

Application filed July 28, 1913. Serial No. 781,490.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK CHADIMA, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cedar Rapids, in the county of Linn and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Butter-Cutter Clamps, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to butter-cutting machines of the type shown in patents to Christian Glaus, No. 701,874, of June 10, 1902, and t0 Solomon B. Friday, No. 896,718, of August 25, 1908, and has for its object to provide an improved clamp, adapted to be more quickly adjusted and operated than the clamps illustrated in either of said patents.

In the use of a butter-cutting machine of the type above mentioned it is generally the practice of butter packers to provide a number of butter receptacles sufiicient to take care of a days pack, or even a number of days pack, fill them with butter well packed, and then set them away in cold storage. hen it is desired to cut the butter into small bricks the receptacles are brought to the cutting machine, adjusted thereto, as described in said patents, more particularly the former, and then cut into bricks for re tail use. In practice wooden packing boxes are preferred, and it is found impossible to keep them all of exactly the same height, or even so near the same height thata simple lever clamp will operate on all such boxes uniformly. It therefore becomes necessary to vary the length of the clamprods from time to time, and as two are required, one at each side of the machine, this is rather a slow operation with a turn-buckle, or the like, to 'ive the adjustment. This invention is inten ed to facilitate this adjustment, and make it possible to shift from box to box and clamp the parts in position very easily and rapidly.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side view, showing my improved clamp as in use on a butter-cutting machine, a fragment of which is also shown. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal, sectional view, showing the internal construct-ion and arrangement of the parts of the clamp. Fig. 3 is a top view of the same, below the section line ab of Fig. 2.

In Fig. 1 the numeral 1 designates the fitted to a follower board or false bottom adapted to be forced upward, as fully described in said patents, the follower not belng herein illustrated. The butter receptacle sets on the base of the machine 2, which is provided with lateral lugs 3 adapted to connect with the lower end of the clamp, to be described presently, by a pin 4;. On the top of the box rests the wirestrung cutting frame 5, to be held firmly in place by a pair of clamps, the details of which frame form no essential part of this lnvention.

The clamp is described as follows: 6 is a channel bar, preferably a steel or malleable casting, having at or near the lower end one or more holes 7 to receive the pin 4:. The bar is also provided with a depending tail 8, which by abut-ting against the side of the machine base when the clamp is released at the upper end, serves to hold the whole clamp in an inclined positionfacilitating the removal and replacement of butter boxes. Near its upper end this bar is slotted at 9, and at each side of the slot is a gear rack 10. Nearly opposite the racks is a pair of inturned lips or lugs 11 adapted to hold in posit-ion a sliding jaw 12 having a hook-like head adapted to engage the top of one side of the cutting frame. An extension of this jaw projects through the slot in the bar, when in operative position, this extension being expanded to form a ratchet-like sector 13, and preferably provided wit-h a depending lug 14L bearing on the front face of the channel-bar, as shown in Fig. 2. To the hub 15 of'the extension is pivoted a handlever 16, bifurcated to straddle the sector. A pawl 17 in the nature of a door-bolt, and provided with a suitable thumb-piece 18 retained in a slot 19 is mounted on the under side of the hand-lever, its stem 20 passing through a lug 21, with an interposed spring 22 tending to force the pawl into engagement with the sector. The hand-lever at the pivoted .end is provided with a few teeth 23 to engage the rack-teeth when the lever is depressed. When the lever is elevated to its extreme position, however, the teeth do not engage, and then the movable jaw and all its connection is free to slide up or down with respect to the channel-bar. To facilitate this sliding movement the upper part of this end of the lever is extended to form a shoulder 24 which, when the lever is drawn up to the limit abuts against the body of the sliding jaw and extends laterally over the rack teeth, along which the lever is free to slide when in this position. It is thus possible for the operator to expand the clamp very quickly, by simply lifting the lever, then, without changin his hold on the lever swing the clamp forward into engagement with the cutting frame, and finally, still holding the lever in the same way, depress the jaw and its connections until the jaw engages the frame, and, releasing the thumb-piece, continue the downward movement until the frame is firmly clamped in position. The upward movement of the slidlng jaw is limited by the upper terminus of the slot at 25, engaging a shoulder 26 011 the jaw, and its downward movement in the same way, by the shoulder 27 engaging the lower terminus of the slot 28. This prevents any separation of the sliding jaw from its connected channel-bar, and insures a quick and certain engagement of the teeth of the hand-lever with the rack, so that the whole operation of clamping and unclamping may be performed with the greatest possible speed.

Having thus described my invention, I

' claim:

1. A clamp for butter-cutting machines, and the like, comprising a bar adapted to connect with said machine, a jaw slidable along said bar, a hand-leverpivoted to said jaw and engaging said bar, a ratchetforming a part of the jaw, and a pawl attached to the lever to engage said ratchet.

2. A clamp for butter-cutting machines and the like, comprising a bar adapted for attachment to said machine at one end, and provided with a rack for engagement with a hand-lever, a clamping jaw mounted slidably on said bar, and provided with a ratchet-like sector, a hand-lever having teeth adapted to engage said rack pivoted to the sector, and a pawl connected with the handlever to engage said sector.

3. A clamp for butter-cuttin machines, and the like, comprising a channe -bar adapted to be attached at one end to said machine, and having a slot in the face thereof and racks adjacent to said slot, a jaw mounted slidably in said channel-bar, and having a ratchet-like sector projecting through said slot, a hand-lever pivoted to said sector and provided with teeth engaging said racks and with an engaging pawl.

4. A clamp for butter-cutting machines and the like, comprising a channel bar adapted for attachment at one end to said machine, and having a slot in its face and adjacent rack teeth, a clamping aw mounted slidably in said channel-bar, and having a sector projecting through the slot, a handlever pivoted to said sector, and having teeth which engage the rack teeth during less than the whole of its pivotal movement, a stop for the upward movement of the lever, and an attached pawl adapted to engage said sector.

5. A clamp for buttercutting machines, and the like, comprising a channel-bar adapted for attachment to such machine, and having a slot through its face, and rack teeth adjacent to said slot, a jaw mounted slidably in said channel-bar, and having a sector projecting through said slot, with a shoulder adjacent to the hub of said sector, a hand-lever pivoted to said sector, and having teeth to engage the rack during less than the whole of the pivotal movement of the lever and a shoulder adjacent to said teeth adapted to engage the shoulder of the sliding jaw, and a sector-engaging pawl attached to said lever.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK OHADIMA.

\Vitnesses G. E. MELsA, J. M. ST. JOHN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

